Death Is Never The End
by stormthebirds37
Summary: Maya Frost has recently been Marked...but why is it green? OC...DamienxJack, ZoeyxStark. Spoilers for Destined.
1. Chapter 1

**Fair warning to you – from here on out, there are major spoilers. If you haven't read Hidden, your head will blow off in surprise. (I'm not kidding. Even the next paragraph has spoilers. Plus, it's hard to clean up brains – believe me, I know – so don't let your head fly off.)**

**I warned you. In this story, I tried to keep everything the same except for one detail – Jack didn't die. (Told ya so! Have fun cleaning those brains.) Neferet still tried to kill him, but Damien saved him. Plus, I added a new character on my own (Maya Frost.) Please accept her. She loves you! **** (Creeper smiley...0.o)**

**Also, I haven't read the HON in a **_**long, long time.**_** I don't even know why I'm writing about it. Maybe because I'm bored. Yeah, that's probably it. Anyways, some details could be off (eye colour, hair, minor plot twists.) I'll try not to be too off, only brushing on some things, because I don't want you to have to clean up more brains.**

**ALSO – Neferet wasn't shunned. (More brains, I get it.) She's still in the House of Night, Aurox is her total and complete servant (no feelings for our Z.) Grandma Redbird was never captured – BUT Erin is still going bad with Dallas, and Shaylin has the water element. That's all!**

**Disclaimer: I own **_**nothing**_** of the House of Night. **_**Nothing.**_** Nada. I do not even own **_**one word.**_** Although, that'd be cool. Even if it was just one word.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Maya's P.O.V**

Generally speaking, I'm a bit of a loner.

And that's fine.

I like it that way. I like being alone. I like to do things on my own. It just helps to be able to think.

That's why I hate school. Everybody always judging, always screaming at you...jeez. It's awful.

But one day, by my locker, everything changed.

I was simply filing books away, getting ready for my next class, when a group of prissy girls came up to me. "Hey, Maya," one of them said. "Nice hair."

"Where'd you get it done?" another sneered. "The _Laundromat_?"

"You know, that wasn't even clever," I said, not even looking at them.

"You're not very clever!" one exclaimed. I didn't get these girls. They weren't smart. They couldn't even make up clever insults. Why were they so respected?

"Bye now," I said, waving cheerfully.

As I was walking down the hallway, a tall, hooded man approached me. He stopped right in front of me, extending a hand.

"Hi...?" I said warily.

"Maya Frost, Night has Chosen thee!" the man exclaimed, and I knew what was coming. Everybody stopped and stared at me. I didn't even listen to the rest of the words.

This was a Tracker.

He touched my forehead and I felt a white – hot pain run through it. I fell to the floor, flat on my bum. The Tracker left as quickly as he'd come. I opened my eyes blearily. Everybody was staring at me like I was a freak.

Oh. Right. I was a freak now.

I touched my forehead gently. It didn't feel any different. But I knew that if I looked in a mirror I'd see the Mark of a Vampyre fledging.

I was in Tulsa. That meant I had to go to the Tulsa House of Night. I quickly went into the bathroom and phoned my Mom.

"Yes?" my mother said wearily, as if she didn't want to talk to me. Ever since my Dad died, she never wanted to talk to anyone.

"Mom," I said, "I've been Marked."

"Hmm," my mom sighed. "Okay, honey. The House of Night is only a short ways from your school."

"Mom! You're not even worried?" I exclaimed, practically shouting into the phone. A slight cough overcame me. Right – if I didn't get to the House of Night, I'd die.

"No, honey," she said. "See, your father died. You remind me so much of him. Maybe if you go away, I'll stop being sad. Bye, now."

The phone went dead with a click.

A slight tear escaped my eyes. But only one.

I left the school in a hurry. Nobody stepped in my way. They all made a wide path for me to walk down as I left.

My mom was right. The House of Night _was_ a short walk. I tried to run there, but occasionally I was overrun by coughing and had to stop. I didn't even notice the people on the street, giving me hostile looks. Who cares?

There it was. The House of Night, in all its glory. I never thought Vampyres were strange. Then again, I'd never thought I'd be one. I guessed that I'd see.

Did I just go in? I was feeling more tired by the minute. Was I supposed to get sick this fast? Hopefully. Maybe I was rejecting the Change already?

That was a scary thought.

I didn't have to wonder about knocking. The doors were pushed open and group of Vampyres and fledging stepped out. Instantly, I knew this was a different bunch. One of them didn't look as old as a Vampyre, but her Blue Mark was filled in. One had a filled in _Red Mark._ Two girls were staring at each other icily. Two guys were holding hands happily. And there was a Red – Marked fledging. The last was a girl with a Red fledging Mark.

The girl with the filled in Blue Mark saw me instantly. "Guys," she hissed, "Look."

"Oh my god," one of the guys holding hands gasped.

"Her soul is purple," the red – Marked fledging girl commented.

"What?" I said, my voice hoarse.

"Come on," the girl who had spoken first said. "You need to be with Vampyres." I went towards her, but she said that so...cautiously, I couldn't help but be a little mad.

She led me inside a huge hall. I didn't really keep track of where we were going, only that she took me to a room with two other woman. They were both Vampyres.

"Zoey?" one of the women gasped. "Who's this?"

"Green?" the other exclaimed.

As soon as I entered the room, I felt better. Feeling very annoyed, I said, "Okay. What is up with everybody saying random colours?"

Everybody stared at me for a moment. "Sorry," the girl called Zoey said. "I had to bring you here so you'd feel better. Do you want to come with me to my dorm room?"

"Um, okay," I said, shrugging. "Why not?"

She led me down another hallway. We seemed to go through a million halls before she stopped at one of them. She opened the door, and we all filed inside. I sat on one of the beds. Zoey sat beside me. The rest of them sat across from us.

"What's your name?" Zoey asked.

"Maya," I replied. "Why's everybody acting weird?"

"Maya," Zoey said, "go look in the mirror."

One of the girls across from us handed me a small mirror. I took a quick look. There I was – plain features. My green eyes, my freckled skin, my too long nose. But when I looked at my forehead, I gasped.

The Mark was there. And it was _green._


	3. Chapter 3

**Zoey's P.O.V**

Maya didn't appear exactly _thrilled._

She gasped as soon as she saw her green Mark. What it meant, I have no idea. Only Nyx knew the answer to that question. But what was the answer? Nyx and her mysterious ways...

"What...why's it different?" she said slowly, lowering the mirror.

"We don't know," I replied.

"Wait, why are your Marks all different?" she asked.

"Not filled in Blue means a normal fledging. Filled in Blue means Vampyre...although I'm the only fledging to have a filled in Mark. A not filled in Red Mark means that fledging died and came back to life. A filled in Red Mark means an undead Vampyre," I explained, and then introduced everybody.

I was _really_ thankful Aphrodite wasn't here. She'd be thrilled – a green Mark.

Oh, crap. Neferet would be dying to get her hands on Maya.

"Oh," Maya said, as if this was all normal. "They don't teach you that at school."

She was very clearly scared out of her wits. I'd been scared when I was the only fledging to have a filled in Mark, so I sort of understood what she was thinking. She was also trying to gain control of the situation through humour. I understood that, too.

"Z," Damien said slowly, "hate to say it, but she technically has to go to Neferet."

"Who's that?" Maya asked instantly.

I sighed, but then I gave Maya the breakdown on life at the House of Night – _everything. _Nyx had chosen her for something. That meant she was part of this.

When I finished, Maya looked very annoyed. "So Neferet is this super evil chick and you want me to meet her?"

"You have to," I explained. "You can't get around it."

"And she tried to kill you?" she asked, directing this question at Jack.

Jack looked uncomfortable, but said, "Ya. She did. But Damien stopped her." Damien and Jack looked at each other affectionately.

"'Kay," Maya said after exhaling the largest amount of air I have ever seen someone hold in their lungs that long. "I'll go."

"I'll come with you," I said immediately.

"Good," Maya said, "'cause I have no idea where anything is in this place."

I laughed. "Neither did I, at first," I said. "Come on."

We got up and left the room. Maya stayed close behind me.

Quickly, we found Neferet in the hallways. It seemed as though she was looking for _us._ When she saw Maya's Mark, she gasped in surprise but then began her routine. "What has Nyx done now?"

"Given us another fledging," I said. "See? Her Mark may be green, but it's not filled in yet."

"That is _no_ fledging," she said with fake drama. Maya looked surprised by her performance, as if this wasn't as bad as she was expecting.

"Yes, it is," I insisted. "Nyx has seen fit to Mark her. She is a fledging, regardless of colour."

Neferet curled her lips into a cold sneer. I think she realized she was trapped. If she didn't accept Maya, the High Council might shun her for rejecting a potentially dangerous fledging. She had to accept her to keep her "innocent" front going.

"Fine," Neferet said, putting on a fake smile. "Welcome, Maya. Please wait here for one second."

Neferet spun out of the hallway. I could practically see the tendrils of Darkness clinging to her as she left. How could the High Council not see that? How did they let her remain here?

"Wow," Maya said. She looked mildly impressed. "At my old school I had some impressive snobs, but wow, she tops the list."

"Tell me about it," I scoffed. "She used to be my mentor here, when I first showed up. Then she raised dead fledgings."

"The red ones."

"Yeah. I figured out what she'd done and then she attacked me, but I used the elements to recover. Now she's taken Darkness as her consort," I explained. "She's truly evil."

"Why is she still here?" Maya asked the question I'd been wondering about for a long time.

"The High Council needs 'sufficient' evidence to shun her," I said. "Why they haven't found that, I don't know."

We heard the _click-clack_ of heels marching back up the hall, and we both shut up. Neferet re-emerged, her smile looking false. "Here, Maya," she said, handing her a piece of paper, "your schedule. You start tomorrow. You can also take the class offered by Thanatos, our High Council leader for..._different_ fledgings."

Maya nodded, taking the schedule from her with clear tension.

I sighed. "Let's go, Maya," I said, leading her away.

"No," she said, pulling away. She marched right up to Neferet and stopped her from leaving the hallway. I admired this girl's bravery. "You can't do that," she told Neferet sternly. "I've taken enough crap in my life and I don't need this. I don't know why I'm Marked differently but I am, so get used to it. Nyx deemed fit to Mark me like this and you respect Nyx's decisions."

"I know perfectly well what you are," Neferet replied icily. "You're a mistake. You're wrong. Your body is too weak to handle the Change. You're going to die soon, believe me."

Maya just stood there with her mouth open. Neferet gave her a little smile and then departed.

I walked over to Maya. "That was gutsy," I said.

She didn't reply. Her eyes widened and she kept staring at a point behind me. "What is it?" I asked. When she still didn't reply, I turned around.

There was nothing there.

I turned back to her just in time to see her wobble and to catch her as she fell. Her eyes were closed and she was totally out of it.

I narrowed my eyes. Did Neferet do something? I opened one of her eyes and gasped. I even dropped her on the floor and backed away in shock.

Her eye wasn't an eye.

It was just a black orb.

And something only she could see had made that happen.


	4. Chapter 4

**Maya's POV**

"I know perfectly well what you are," Neferet snarled coolly, right after my outburst. "You're a mistake. You're wrong. Your body is too weak to handle the Change. You're going to die soon, believe me."

But I wasn't paying attention to her anymore. I wasn't even looking at Zoey – rather, behind her. Behind her was a man. He was un-Marked, so he shouldn't have been in here anyways. He wore a black leather jacket and sunglasses over his eyes. He was only about twenty, and his confident swagger could only belong to one person. Only one.

My father.

But he was dead.

_Oh, hello,_ he said, although the words seemed to drift through the air. _It's nice to see you, hon._

_Daddy?_ I replied, thinking the words, but he heard them. I was vaguely aware of Zoey saying something but it didn't matter, it didn't matter anymore.

_It's me, sweetie,_ he laughed. _I'm so proud of you. Nyx has given you this gift._

And I understood. He was dead, killed in that motorcycle accident thirteen years ago. But I was seeing him. I saw him because my Mark was green.

And that let me see dead people.

A strange sensation overcame me all of a sudden. I felt dizzy, cold, and icy. _Oh, hon, you're becoming a full-fledged Vampyre,_ my dad said.

_Daddy no, that's impossible, I've only been Marked an hour,_ I replied.

I felt so dizzy that I fell over. Something caught me although I wasn't sure what. _You're different, hon_,he said. _So different it happens now._

I was vaguely aware of hitting the ground hard and feeling something slip out of my grasp before everything went dark and it didn't matter anymore.


	5. Chapter 5

**Zoey's POV**

"You're right, Z, we can't bring her to the Infirmary," Damien agreed. "She's too…at risk there with Neferet around. This would just prove her point of 'her body being too weak' and everything will spiral out of control."

Maya was lying on my bed, still out cold. We were all gathered around her, trying to figure out exactly what to do. "Something spooked her before she collapsed," I said. "And it wasn't Neferet."

"Though, that's a perfectly good reason to faint," Shaunee snorted.

"Exactly," Aphrodite agreed. "I can't believe I'm saying this but half-brain's right. Her fashion sense is awful."

Shaunee shot Aphrodite a murderous look. "I'm not half-brain," she said testily, trying not to shout. "Not anymore."

I prayed Aphrodite would understand how Shaunee was feeling about Erin going bad and not push her. Thankfully, she didn't.

"What do we do, though?" I said before they could go further.

"Shaylin," Stevie Rae suggested, "why don't ya read her 'colours' or somethin'?"

Shaylin shrugged, and then looked down at Maya for a couple seconds. "They're indecisive," she said at last.

"What does that mean?" I asked. Every time we asked her to do this she never gave us an upright answer.

"They're changing," she explained. "One second they're a light shade of red and the next they're yellow. They're morphing, like they can't decide what to become."

"So she's changing?" Jack guessed.

"I think you're right," I reasoned. "Her Mark is different, and maybe the Change is different for her too. Maybe it happens now."

"You mean she's Changing so fast that it knocked her out?" Shaunee asked.

"I guess," I shrugged.

"Oh Nyx," Shaylin gasped. She stumbled back a bit, away from Maya, breaking the circle of worried faces. "Oh Nyx."

"What is it?" Damien asked immediately.

"Her colours are growing brighter," she said hoarsely, clearly stunned. "She's going to wake up soon and it's going to be dramatic."

"Dramatic?" Aphrodite snorted. "What, you mean like 'oh my, how did I get here' kind of dramatic?"

Shaylin shot her a look but didn't reply. "I suggest you duck," she told me.

She barely got the words out before a bright light filled the room and I was knocked backwards into the wall by some invisible force. I felt a whisper of power coming from Maya before my vision went white and I was blinded.

And then everything was gone and I was falling, falling…


	6. Chapter 6

**Zoey's POV**

I woke up to screaming.

"_Stop it! Stop it! Go away! Stop!"_

I groaned. My head was on fire, and I still saw white. Slowly, my eyesight cleared and I managed to stand. My friends were all waking up as well. Maya was on the bed, sitting up, her hands over her ears and screaming her head off.

Her Mark was filled in with a brilliant, emerald green.

"Shh!" I scolded, not wanting Neferet to come. It was a miracle she hadn't already. "Please, stop screaming!"

Surprisingly, she did.

She looked up at me with terrified eyes. "They're everywhere! They're everywhere!"

"What's everywhere?" Damien groaned, getting up off the floor. Dusting off his jeans, he sat down next to me and Maya.

She whimpered slightly. _"Ghosts."_

And even though it didn't make sense, it did. She froze in shock before because she saw somebody dead. Her green Mark let her see dead people. And now, because she was a full Vampyre, she was seeing _everyone who'd ever died._

"Maya, look at me," I said softly as everyone else began getting up. "Look at me." Her flickering eyes stopped, staring right into mine. They seemed to glow brighter than before, and I felt some sort of power emitting from her, but I had to keep her focused.

She whispered softly, "Are you dead?"

The question was one you wouldn't think was serious but she totally meant it.

"No," I replied. "No, I'm not dead." I pointed to Damien. "He's not dead." I gestured to Stevie Rae. "She's not dead either."

Maya contemplated this, and then said, "Am I dead?"

"No."

"Then why are they here?"

'They' being ghosts.

"Listen, Maya," I said, holding her hand. "You have to look at me. I'm alive. I'm real. I must be different from _them._"

Reluctantly, her wandering eyes focused on me. She didn't reply for what seemed like an eternity, but finally she hissed, "You're brighter."

I didn't know what that meant but I went with it. "Yes. Yes, I am. Focus on that. I'm alive. They're not. They're not brighter. Focus, Maya, focus!"

And somehow, she did. She blinked once and her bright eyes dimmed slightly, back to a normal colour, the way they were before. "They're gone," she whispered. "Gone, they're gone!"

"You can control it," I said, laughing. "Maya, do you know what this means? You're the most powerful Vampyre ever!"

"Z," Stark, who had been quiet for this whole time, finally spoke. "That power's dangerous."

He was right. "If Neferet finds out –," I began, but was interrupted by the door crashing open.

"Speak of the devil," Shaunee muttered.

"Zoey, what is going on in here?" Neferet cried. "I can sense someone's powers."

We all knew who that was, but Neferet couldn't know.

"Well, you see –," Damien began, probably beginning a very clever lie, but Neferet interrupted once again.

"Maya's Changed, has she?" Neferet said, smiling evilly. "Well, that 'changes' things, pardon the pun."

"Actually, it was kind of clever," Damien said. He stood protectively in front of Jack, who was trying desperately not to be seen.

"Dragon," she snapped, bored of Damien's games.

Dragon, who had been crushed since Anastasia's death, stepped into the room. Brandishing his sword, he quickly walked over to Maya. "You can come with me quietly," he said under his breath, "or I can make you come."

"Hey!" I cried before Maya could reply. "You can't do that!"

"Maya really has no choice," Neferet scolded me, talking as if I should know. "I am her High Priestess."

"No," I snapped, "she's her own High Priestess as she's the only one who's Marked that way."

"We have already discussed this, Zoey," she snapped as Dragon held his sword to Maya's throat. "She is a broken thing, of no use to us. I shall find out what her Mark means and then figure out what to do with her."

"I'm never going with you," Maya hissed, "never."

"We shall see," Neferet chuckled. "Dragon. Next step."

In a flash, Dragon moved his sword from Maya's neck to Damien's. Jack yelped, but Damien remained strong, simply tilting his neck back a bit. "You don't come," she snarled, "he dies."

She had trapped us. None of us could beat Dragon and she knew it. Also, I couldn't summon the elements properly – my headache was still there and I couldn't focus on a summoning. By the strained look on Damien's face, he couldn't either.

"Stop!" Maya cried, standing up. "I'll come."

"I knew you would," Neferet laughed. "Come."

She left without another word. Dragon kept his sword at Damien's neck, waiting for Maya to leave. "You don't have to go," Damien began, but Dragon pushed the sword deeper.

"Maya –," I began, but Dragon shot me a threatening look and I shut up. Maya looked at me, and in the second we locked eyes a thousand emotions passed between us. Fear. Hate. Loathing. But most of all, she was trying to tell me she'd be okay.

As she left, Dragon followed, closing the door with a _click._ I had a feeling a lot more was being closed – Maya's life, say.

**That's the end of this chapter **** So…halfway through I realized Dragon died in Destined. Sorry! So I'm just clearing it up that Dragon DID NOT DIE in Destined in this FanFiction…thanks guys! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Maya's POV**

As I left the room with Neferet and Dragon, the first thing they did was knock me out.

When I came to, I was lying on a wooden floor and I was chained to a post behind me. It was digging into my back uncomfortably. The room was too dark to see much of anything else.

But I saw her, alright. Her long blond hair flowed naturally over her shoulders and her wicked eyes seemed to gleam in the darkness. The black suited her somehow. "Hello, Maya," she hissed evilly. No one else was around to see the true Neferet and she didn't have to hide.

"Hey, Neferet." I'd long since come terms with the fact that I wasn't coming out of here alive. There was no way I could. She might not have know what my Mark meant, and I wasn't going to tell her willingly (or maybe I would, just to spite her) but it wasn't like she'd just let me leave.

"I am going to ask you nicely the first time, Maya," she continued. "What does your Mark mean?"

I didn't reply. I couldn't think of a wiseass enough come-back in time.

"I shall ask you once more," Neferet said testily. "What does your Mark mean? It would be in both our interests to tell me."

I snarled. "It means I'm far more powerful than you are."

She raised a perfectly curved eyebrow. "Somehow, I doubt it."

And in a flash, tendrils of pure Darkness arced around her body and began tearing at my flesh, cutting me, sending waves of pain through my body. They began slurping up my blood, but more kept coming for them to feast on. I howled, mostly in shock, but the presence of Darkness was enough to invoke fear in anybody.

The tendrils slunk away, but it was clear they didn't want to. "I will ask you again, Maya, what does your Mark mean?"

I tasted blood in my mouth and spat it in her direction.

"Very well."

And the strands of Darkness returned.

I was tortured like that three more times before I scowled murderously and said, "They let me see dead people, okay? Dead people."

As if on cue, my father and a handful of other ghosts appeared behind Neferet. They stared at her venomously but she couldn't see them.

_Stay strong, hon; you know how this has to end,_ my father told me in my head.

And I did know. Even if Nyx had Marked me this way, I wasn't meant to be alive. I would cause far more pain than love in my life and I couldn't let that happen.

Neferet arched her eyebrow again and said, "If you can see them you can raise them, yes?"

I'd never tried and I never would try. It was far too dangerous. "Yes," I said, just to spite her.

"Then raise me an army of ghosts, under my command. If you do not, Darkness is always hungry."

That sent chills up my body but I just laughed. I was in hysterics by the time Darkness came back and raked its tendrils up my arms and my legs again. When it slunk away I was still laughing.

"I don't know why I exist," I told Neferet when I had control of myself. "And I never will. But you can't have me, Neferet. Not even you can have me. Nobody can."

And then I told my father my last word.

"Now."

Just like that, I began to send my father away to the spirit world, wherever that is. And as he left, I reached out and took his hand.

I left my body and I died.

The last thing I heard was Neferet's angry howls.

As I followed my father, all I could think was, _I love you, daddy._

_I will always love you, Maya. Always._


	8. Chapter 8

**Zoey's POV**

An hour after Maya had left and after about ten heated arguments, Nyx spoke in all our minds. _I cannot say this easily. Maya is dead, _she said.

We all gasped. "Dead? Like, Neferet killed her, dead?" I asked.

_No, _Nyx replied. _The whole point of Marking Maya green and giving her those powers was just to spite Neferet. I knew Maya would rather die than serve Neferet, so I let this all happen just to show Neferet that not all things are within her reach._

"So Maya killed herself?" I asked, but I couldn't help feeling annoyed at our goddess. Did she think about how Maya would feel?

_Yes, _came the reply. _Yes, she did. And now Neferet knows I can beat her at her own game. _

"That's harsh," Shaunee blurted out. "Too harsh."

There came no reply.

And in my mind came a seed of doubt.

_Maybe I'm alone after all._

But aren't we all alone, in essence?

It just depends on the person to make the most of it.

**~FIN.**

**A/N – I hoped you guys liked it, and please please please review! Those are amazing to read, good or bad. So thanks for sticking with this story and I hoped you liked every chapter **** and sorry it took me so long to finish, my internet was down. Thanks again!**


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